Roller guide for plow blade



May 9, 1961 M. HERTZ ROLLER GUIDE FOR PLOW BLADE Filed Jan. 19, 1960Fig.- 8 v I ENTOR. Michael erfz W fi W HIS A TTORNE YS Statm Patent'Fatented May 9, 1961 2,983,058 ROLLER GUIDE For: PLOWBLADE MichaelHertz, 520 Dorseyville Road, Pittsburgh 38, Pa.

Filed Jan. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 3,392 '4 Claims. (Cl. 37-46) none of theseknown guides have ever attained commercial success since they lackrugged construction, ease of assembly and disassembly, freedom fromjamming and freeze-ups, long-life and low maintenance costs.

My invention overcomes all of the deficiencies of the known snow plowguides. My guide is extremely durable and rigid in construction; it issimple .to assemble and disassemble by use of common well-known tools;it has only a limited number of moving parts, thereby insuring lowmaintenance costs; and it is so constructed that any entry of ice, snow,and undesirable materials into the :1;

moving parts of the guide is hindered or prevented.

I have described. a presently preferred embodiment of my invention inthe following drawings, in which:

.Figure 1 is a side elevation view of my roller guide mounted on a plowblade;

Figure 2 is a frontelevation viewof my roller guide mounted on a plowblade; 7

Figure 3 is an enlarged front elevation view of my roller guide withparts removed for clarity;

Figure 4 is a plan view of my roller guide;

" Figure 5 is a cross-section of the top portion of my roller guidetaken on line VV of Figure 4;

V Figure 6 is a cross-section on line VI-VI of Figure 3;

Figure 7 is a perspective of a modified form of a frame for my rollerguide; Y

z V through it. The holes 19 and 20 are in vertical alignment witheachother. The bottom hole 20' has a smallerhole 21 opening into it from thebottom of the support plate 18. A circular shaft 22 is positioned in theholes 19 and 20 and spans the space between the support plates and holesThe holes 19 and 20 are sufliciently largeto provide a loose fit for theshaft. A hole 23 is bored axially into the top support plate 17 andthreaded to admit a set-screw 24. The hole 23 opens axially into hole19. The set-screw 24 is tightened against a flat areaon the upper end ofshaft 22 to prevent rotation of the shaft in holes 19 and 20 and aid inlocking the shaft within the holes 19and' 20. The lower end of shaft 22also has a flat area against which the set-screw 2'4 abuts when theshaft is inverted as described hereinafter.

A tubular roller '25 has Oilite bearings 26 and 27 at its upper andlower ends. The shaft 22 passes through and has a sliding fit within thebearings 26 and 27 and the bearings have a press-fit within openings inthe upper and lower ends of the roller 25. V

Each of the bearings 26 and 27 have axially extending flanges extendingbeyond and overlapping the ends of the roller 25'. An opening 28 throughthe roller is of sufficient size to freely admit the shaft 22. Thus,roller 25 rotates freely about the stationary shaft 22 on bearings 26and 27.

A small rectangular keeper plate 29 is positioned above the top supportplate 17 and covers the upper end of hole 19. This keeper plate isaffixed to the top support plate 17 by a bolt 30 which threads into ahole in'the top support plate 17. Thekeeper plate tightly covers the topof hole 19 to prevent entry of undesirable material such as snow, ice,dirt, cinders, etc., into the hole 19.

The roller 25 is only of sufficient height to permit its introductionplus the thicknessof the flanges of the bearings 26 and 27 within thespace between the upper and lower support plates 17 and 18. This insuresthat no undesirable material will enterpbetween the support plate andthe rollers.

, The shaft 22 rides/on the bottom face of hole 20 in the bottom supportplate 18. I j

; If any undesirablematerial-should enter between the flange of thebearing '26 and the upper face ofthe bottom A support plate 18, itpasses downwardly through hole 20 Figure 8 is a'perspective of anothermodified form of frame for my roller guide; and

Figure 9 is -a cross-section through the modified form of frame shown inFigure 7. Briefly the present invention includes a roller guide having aframe with spaced support plates affixed thereto, and a vertical bearingmounted roller rotatable about an axle positioned in holes in thesupport plates.

More specifically, a roller guidej10 is aflixed to either or bothtransverse vertical edges of a plow blade 11 having a replaceable loweredge '12; The plow blade 11 and its manner of affixation to a vehicle iswell known.

The guide 10 is affixed to the edge of they plow blade 11 in any desiredmanner, such as welding or bolting an the angle plate 13 to the guide.

The guide includes a frame 14 having a first leg'15 afiixed at rightangles to a second leg 16. Preferably this frame 14 is a conventionalangle structure. A top sup plate 17 is welded to the inside of the frame1 4 near the upper end of the frame. A bottom support plate 18 is weldedto the inside of the frame 14 near the bottom of the frame. 1 I l Yangle plate 13 to-the blade 11 and also welding or bolting and out hole2l-lthrough the bottom of supportplate 18:

The hole 21 also provides" an opening for-lubrication of thesurfacebetweenthe bottom of shaft 22 and the bottom Wh l .2 r I isfrequently used against low curbsf' 'such as shown inFigure 3 and thusonly the lower half of roller 25 is subjected to abrasion and wear. "Ihave .7 found that it is desirable to be able to invert the roller 25 sothat the unworn top half of the roller can be ,used.

To accomplish this, it is necessary to unthread the boltqf 30, therebyremoving the keeper plate 29, loosen set-screw" 24, and push ascrew-driver or similar instrument'upf My roller guide through the hole21, thereby pushing shaft 22 upward out of holes 19 and 2t} "and out ofthe roller 25. The roller 25 is then removed from between the supportplates 17 and 18; inverted; and the shaft 22 inserted through theset-screw 24 may be threaded -22.

I have also found'that in using myjguide in types of snow, particularlythe type containing large amounts of'unflozen moisture, the snow ispacked i tween the roller 25 andthe frame 14... Thesn'owfis packed atthe I juncture of the legs 15 and 16 on the inside of the frame. It isof'utmost importance that, the rollerw 1 be free torotate atall timessinceif it looks, flat spot will be quickly worn on the roller due toabrasion against a curb or building. To insure that there is no lockingof the roller due to packing of the snow as above stated, I have cut aplurality of holes 31 in the frame as shown in Figure 7. These holes 31are cut at the juncture of the legs 15 and 16 to insure that the snowentering between the inside of the frame and the roller will pass out ofthe frame through the holes 31. I have also shown a continuous hole 32in a modified form of frame as shown in Figure 8 to serve the samepurpose as holes 31. The particular configuration or location of theseholes 31 and 32 is not important; however, I have found that the bestlocation for the holes is at the juncture of the legs 15 and 16.

My roller is mounted in a vertical position as shown in Figure 1 toinsure that the roller will rotate against any curb or building which itmay abut. It is undesirable to mount the roller at an angle other thanvertical since it will then be dragged against any abutting curb andquickly abrated; however, it is within the scope of my invention tomount the roller at any angle.

I have also found that it is desirable to coat the outer surface ofroller 25 with a rubber material to reduce the abrasion of the rolleragainst curbs and the like.

I have also found that the preferable height for the roller 25 is 6" andthe preferable diameter 2 /2". The shaft 22 is preferably 1" diameter.

While I have described a present preferred embodiment of my invention,it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A snow plow blade including a guide rigidly mounted on the blade toprotect the transverse vertical edge of the blade from abrasion againstrigid structures, said guide comprising an elongated verticallyextending L-shaped frame having first and second legs united along avertically extending edge; top and bottom support plates aflixed rigidlyto the inside of said L-shaped frame; said support plates being spacedfrom and substantially parallel to each other; a circular hole extendingvertically through said top support plate; a circular hole extendingvertically through a portion of said bottom support plate and having abottom face directed upward toward said 'top support plate; said holesbeing in vertical alignment;

means engaged with said guide and shaft to maintain the shaft immovablyin said holes; a cylindrical roller surrounding and rotatable about saidshaft; said roller being 4 positioned between and in spaced relationshipto said support plates; and a pair of bearings affixed inside saidroller and having openings in alignment with said holes in the supportplates such that the shaft is slidably mounted in the hearings to permitrevolution of the roller with said shaft as the axis of revolution.

2. A blade according to claim 1 wherein said means to maintain the shaftimmovable within the holes is a set-screw threadably engaged with thetop support plate and in locking engagement with the shaft; and a keeperplate removably affixed to the upper side of the top support plate, saidkeeper plate being positioned over the hole in the top support plate;and a vertical opening extending from the hole in the bottom supportplate to the lower face of the bottom support plate; such that thekeeper plate may be removed, the set-screw unlocked from the shaft andthe shaft removed from the guide by insertion of a pushing device upwardthrough said vertical opening in the bottom support plate to push theshaft upward out of the holes and roller, thereby permitting inversionof the roller if wear on the lower part of the roller is excessive.

3. A blade according to claim 1 wherein said bearings have fiat radialflanges extending beyond the upper and lower ends of said roller; saidflanges being positioned between the ends of the roller and the supportplates and engageable with said support plates to maintain the roller inspaced relationship to the support plates and hinder the entrance ofundesirable matter into contact with the bearings and shaft.

4. A blade according to claim 1 wherein said blade is used to removesnow from streets and roads and the guide is mounted on one side of theblade with the roller facing in the same direction as the blade suchthat snow may enter between the roller and the legs of the frame;including at least one hole in said first and second legs in theproximity of the juncture of said legs along said vertically extendingedge, whereby snow entering between the legs and roller can exit fromthe frame through the last-mentioned hole.

ReferencesCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 368,515Chadeayne' Aug. 16, 1887 1,711,353 Johnson Apr. 30, 1929 1,891,629 VanWagner Dec. 20, 1932 1,901,647 Howald et a1 Mar. 14, 1933 2,069,282Silverman Feb. 2, 1937 2,657,408 Machovec Nov. 3, 1953

